


Waterfall

by nightshade002



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mermaids, Fluff, M/M, MerMay, MerMay 2018, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 19:01:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14817066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightshade002/pseuds/nightshade002
Summary: Oikawa hadn't planned on meeting a mermaid while he was hiking. It just sort of happened. And if he went back the next day? Well, no one had to know.





	Waterfall

**Author's Note:**

> this is for tainted and [their art](https://twitter.com/Tainted126/status/998821598806228992)

Oikawa couldn’t have been happier to find the river. It was a _hot_ day and hiking really was a terrible idea. He hadn’t even been out for as long as usual, but the sun beating down on him made it feel like he’d been hiking for an entire day.

He emerged from the trees to finally, _finally_ find the river. He knew there was a waterfall nearby, but he stopped at the riverbank to kneel down and splash water onto his face, uncaring when it dripped down onto his shirt. The water felt amazing in the heat, cooling him down instantly. 

The waterfall was loud enough now that he could hear it. He’d seen it before, but it still took his breath away this time. Oikawa paused as the waterfall fully came into view. This time, though, it wasn’t because of the waterfall. It was for the man sitting under it. The very shirtless, attractive man sitting under it. The very shirtless, attractive man _with a tail and gills_ sitting under it. 

“Holy shit,” Oikawa whispered. 

The man - the _mer_ man - spun around and Oikawa was taken aback by his sheer beauty. He couldn’t see much from how far away he was, but that didn’t truly matter. The merman only stared at him, unmoving. Oikawa took a step forward and the merman must have been so startled that he fell off the rock he had been sitting on.

Onto the burning hot stone next to the river.

Oikawa’s feet were moving before he could think, rushing him forward. It didn’t take a genius to know that the stone would be extremely hot to the touch today. The merman wasn’t quite receptive to his help, however, baring sharp teeth and letting out a deep, inhuman growl. He tried to push himself up, but the heat of the stone underneath him obviously hurt his hands and he fell back to the ground wincing. 

“I don’t- I don’t want to hurt you,” Oikawa said, hoping that the other would understand him. “I just want to help.”

He crept closer slowly, holding his hands out in what he thought would be taken as a non-threatening gesture. It was, or at least he’s pretty sure it was, because he got a lot less ‘cornered and afraid animal’ behavior and more just plain glares.

“Can I touch you?” Oikawa asked. “Can you even understand me?” He sighed when there was no response. “Probably not, no.”

The merman held his hand out (albeit pretty begrudgingly) to Oikawa. He realized that it could be some sort of elaborate trap, but he couldn’t just _not_ try to help. It was kind of his fault that the merman had fallen in the first place. 

Oikawa grabbed his hand and pulled him up so that he was sitting. He moved to grab him by the waist to lift him up and get him back in the water. “No!”

“What?” Oikawa pulled back in surprise.

“No!” The merman tried to move himself, but ended up hurting his hands again. “Hurt.”

“I know that hurts that’s why I’m trying to help you.” The merman raised a hand to his mouth to cough and Oikawa saw the gills at his sides flaring. “Oh,” he said, understanding finally dawning on him, “I can’t touch your gills, right?” Of course. Fish need gills to breathe and - though this situation was hardly one he could apply science to - it would make sense that a merman has gills and that they’re sensitive.

“Can’t touch,” he nodded. “That hurts.”

“Okay. Okay, I can do that,” Oikawa said hesitantly. He looked around for something that would help him get this merman over the rocks and back into the river. 

Apparently he didn’t have to do that much work because the merman tugged him down impatiently and moved Oikawa’s arms to under his tail while he threw his arms around Oikawa’s neck. “Do that,” the merman repeated irritatedly.

“You’re awfully ungrateful for someone who’s being saved,” Oikawa muttered, barely able to stand up with the full weight of the merman. He was painfully aware of the face right next to his own. The merman wasn’t any less beautiful up close with his, well, sea green eyes. 

The merman huffed out a small laugh. “Being saved,” he laughed, not even bothering to hold it back.

Oikawa rolled his eyes. “Keep teasing like that and I think I might just drop you.”

“Drop… me?” he asked, holding onto Oikawa tighter and looking back at the ground. “No!”

“I won’t. Promise.” Oikawa made his way over to the bank of the river and set the merman in. He expected him to swim away as soon as he was in the water. “Hey, how can you speak?”

The merman was silent, for the most part. Occasionally he made little squeaking noises of frustration before he spoke. “You speak, I can do that.”

“You mean the more I talk, the more you understand?” The merman nodded. “Do you know how to say your name? My name is Oikawa.”

“My name is…” the merman let out a series of pitches and Oikawa thought that that was it, that he wouldn’t get any more, “Hajime. I think.”

Oikawa smiled. “It was nice to meet you, Hajime.”

“Was?” Hajime repeated. He looked very unhappy by that news.

“Well I have to go soon and you should do something to those burns.”

“No,” Hajime said. He was making a motion with his hands, staring at them as though they would give him the right word. “Can’t go.”

“Don’t go,” Oikawa corrected. “That’s what you say if you want someone to stay.”

“Don’t go,” Hajime responded almost instantly. “I want someone to stay. I want to talk. I want to understand.”

“I’ll come back tomorrow, okay?” Oikawa really shouldn’t be making deals like this. He doesn’t know if he’ll be able to actually get back here tomorrow, but Hajime looks so earnest that he can’t help it.

“Tomorrow. Promise?”

“I promise.”

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr:
> 
> [main blog](https://nightshade002.tumblr.com)   
>  [haikyuu blog](https://theprettysettersclub.tumblr.com)   
>  [ask oikawa blog](https://ask-tooru.tumblr.com)
> 
> [oikawa challenge blog (wait until oikawa's birthday for this one to be really active)](https://oikawachallenge2018.tumblr.com)


End file.
